Why they lose: the Left tells us that Trump is like Hitler

Summary: The Left responds to the populist resurgence with contempt and derision, ignoring the overlap in their goals. It’s why they lose. The specifics of their accusations are often daft, such as the warnings that Trump is like Hitler. This demonstrates how why they’ve lost influence. Are they serious, or are these remnants of the Left just performance art — entertainment for the Outer Party (America’s managers and professionals)? This nonsense distracts from the actual reasons to oppose Trump.

Perhaps it was inevitable that the election would degenerate into a clickbait festival. Slate, a clickbait powerhouse, has laid down a barrage of misinformation about Trump on their readers. This is typical — “An Eclectic Extremist” by Jacob Weisberg — “Donald Trump’s distinctly American authoritarianism draws equally from the wacko right and wacko left. …The conflict in the 2016 campaign is no longer Trump versus his Republican opponents; it is now Trump versus the American political system.” As usual with these comparisons, Weisberg gives little evidence that Trump is these ugly things. Weisberg mindlessly mentions the Mussolini quote (see below).

Also see this hysterical analysis: “This Is How the West Ends” by Anne Applebaum — “Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, and the breakdown of European stability.” If you get your information from comedians, like many on the Left, see “Louis C.K. Slams Trump“: “The Guy is Hitler … We Are Being Germany in the ’30s”.

AlterNet as usual runs some quite deranged content. “Is Donald Trump Getting His Cues from Hitler?” by Steven Rosenfeld — “How the GOP Leader Is Following the Führer’s Recipe.” Kali Holloway reports that Anne Frank’s stepsister says Trump “Is Acting Like Hitler” — “Holocaust Survivors Warn of Historical Parallels. A critique that should chill all of us to the bone.”

Evidence that Trump is an authoritarian, like Hitler

This quote is one of the few bits of evidence given by the Left, which shows the pitifully weak basis for these accusations. It is an ancient adage, a sentiment many people agree with (it’s not wrong just because Mussolini says it). Tipu Sultan (1755-1799), the “Tiger of Mysore”, said “It is better to live like a tiger for a day than like a jackal for 100 years.” Shakespeare’s Caesar says something similar: “Cowards die many times before their deaths. The brave experience death only once.”

Paul Krugman again demonstrates the blindness of the Left, saying “Sorry, there is no reform constituency within the GOP.” They squeeze shut their eyes to avoid seeing his other positions. Opposition to foreign wars in which we have no big stake. Opposition to Wall Street. The need for universal health care coverage. (See Trump’s website, this and especially this). The Left clearly sees Trump channeling two core aspects of populism: racism and nativism (formerly part of the progressives’ creed, but commendably since purged) — and pretends that’s all there is to populism.

Why the Left loses. How progressives can win.

The rise of populism shows broad support for many policies progressives have advocated. This creates an opportunity to gain support from part of American lost to them since Nixon decisively broke the New Deal coalition (following Goldwater’s betrayal of the GOP tradition). They could run with this opportunity to detach them from the GOP coalition by pointing to the many real reasons to oppose Trump and the GOP — but instead they prefer to lose instead by denouncing the lower classes whose support they need to win and make fun but frivolous arguments.

3 thoughts on “Why they lose: the Left tells us that Trump is like Hitler”

Also in the case of the Mussolini tweet, Trump, or his staffer managing the twitter account, were baited into re-tweeting the quote. So it’s really a cheap-shot taking advantage of their ignorance of that specific quote.

The real issue is Trump’s willingness to turn something that did hurt his voters (NAFTA, arguably) into crude negative racial stereotypes (what he said about Mexican immigrants). And the difficulty is to respond to this firmly without insulting the other guy (poor rhetoric usually). Trump has done a good job of provoking and frustrating his opponents, and it shows.

I agree on all points. More broadly, the opportunity for progressives is to ally with populists while minimizing the effect of popuists’ racism. The New Deal did this successfully by accommodation with racism (much of their legislation was designed to not help Blacks). But that was four score years ago. I believe it can be done again but with racism in the back seat.

My guess is that the Left prefers to lose. They’ll exult in their superiority over their fellow Americans, run silly picture, say stupid things, and retain their cartoonish view of the GOP and Right. The 1% will laugh, and win.